Amazon, Apple Top Mobile Retail Customer Satisfaction

For the first time, customer experience analytics company ForeSee has begun measuring mobile satisfaction when it comes to the retail experience. As you may know, ForeSee has been measuring online retail satisfaction for some time now. According to ForeSee’s report, Amazon, Avon, and Apple are the top mobile sites in terms of customer satisfaction (both on smartphones and tablets).

Overall satisfaction with the mobile experiences of 20 of the largest online retailers registered 79 on the Index’s 100-point scale, with scores ranging from 76 to 84. Almost half of the measured retailers scored 80 or above, which ForeSee considers to be a benchmark for excellence. Amazon topped the list at 84, followed by Avon (83) and Apple (82).

Coming in behind Apple are Victoria’s Secret, Barnes and Noble, eBay, Netflix, Staples, Walgreens, Best Buy, Groupon, J.C. Penney, Dell, Home Depot, Living Social, Macy’s, Walmart, Sears and Target, respectively.

The survey reports that the mobile web experience for retail lags traditional retail web satisfaction significantly. Websites appear fairly uniformly across standard PCs and laptops. But because there are dozens of different screen sizes, operating systems, hardware specifications, and loading speeds; mobile is a challenge for retailers. In a comparison of mobile satisfaction scores to web satisfaction, nearly all of the top retailers perform better on traditional websites.

And consumer satisfaction can make a big impact on sales. When compared to dissatisfied customers, satisfied customers are 69% more likely to make a purchase using their mobile devices; 72% are more likely to recommend the retailer; and 58% are more likely to visit the mobile website or app again.

Other key findings from the retail edition of the ForeSee Mobile Satisfaction Index find that app users were slightly more satisfied than mobile web users. 68% used a retailer’s mobile website, while 32% used a retailer’s app. The highest app usage among measured companies was for Netflix (59%), eBay (53%), Groupon (52%), and Walgreens (48%).

First-time users of a mobile site or app tend to be less satisfied with their mobile experiences as they learn new layouts, navigation, and functionality. Customers already familiar with a brand are more satisfied than people who were driven to the company’s mobile site or app via search engines or shopping comparison sites. The most popular tasks performed on mobile retail sites and apps were: looking up product details (28%); looking up price information (19%); and checking stock at a store (17%).
Seventy-six percent of those surveyed used mobile phones, while 24% used tablets.